To Cook
Saute minced garlic until fragrant.
Add chicken and stir-fry until almost cooked.
Add capsicums and carrots and stir fry for 2-3 mins.
Add Lee Kum Kee readymade sauce and water. Simmer until well-heated. Serve hot.
Chicken
Spicy Korean Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom Chicken)
To Cook
In a large bowl, place the chicken, rice wine, minced ginger, salt, black pepper and combine them well.
In a separate bowl, put in 1 cup of starch. Then evenly coat the chicken, piece by piece with the starch and set side.
Add a generous amount of oil in a deep saucepan or fryer, and boil it until the oil temperature reaches 180°C. Add the battered chicken carefully and fry them until they cook, approximately 5-7 mins. Do not overcrowd the pan.
Take out the cooked chicken and place them on a paper towel. Once the deep frying of all chicken is completed, using a skimmer, quickly scoop out any floating remains from the oil. Wait till the oil temperature reaches 175 °C again, then once again deep fry the chicken in small batches for approximately 2-3 mins. Fry until the batter is golden and crisp. Set aside.
In a separate saucepan, add in the Korean fried chicken sauce ingredients. Boil the sauce over low medium heat and stir well. Remove the pan from heat once the sauce starts boiling.
Place the double fried chicken into a large mixing bowl, and then pour the fried chicken sauce over the chicken. Mix them lightly, but thoroughly. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions. Serve it hot immediately.
Alternatively, fried chicken and the sauce can be served separately where the sauce is eaten as a dipping sauce.
Tom Yum with Chicken (Tom Yum Gai)
To Cook
Bring the water to the boil, add Valcom Tom Yum Paste and mushrooms, then cook over high heat until tender.
Add chicken and simmer until cooked, then add coconut milk.
Garnish with Valcom Kaffir Lime Leaves, coriander and chilli. Remove from heat.
Chicken Teriyaki
To Prep
Grate ginger and then grate onion in a large bowl.
Then add all the ingredients for teriyaki sauce into the same bowl. Set aside.
Using a fork, prick both sides of the chicken so that more flavours are absorbed.
Cut the excess skin and fat off the chicken and lightly season with salt and pepper.
To Cook
In a non-stick pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium heat. Place the chicken skin side down to sear the chicken skin first.
Flip the chicken to the other side when skin is golden brown, and then add sake. Cover with the lid and simmer the chicken over medium low heat for about 8-10 mins.
Remove lid and transfer the chicken to a plate. Wipe off excess grease from the pan with a paper towel.
Heat ½ tbsp of oil and place the chicken back in the pan, skin side down, for about 1 min.
Flip the chicken and pour in the prepared teriyaki sauce. Spoon the sauce over the chicken frequently, and simmer until sauce reduces by half. Turn off the heat once the alcohol from sake and mirin evaporates, sugar crystalizes and the sauce thickens.
Emperor Herbal Chicken
To Prep
Steam the herbs with 500ml water for 5 mins.
Place chicken over an aluminium foil and stuff half of the herbs in chicken. Place the rest around the chicken.
Pour the water used to steam the herbs inside foil with the chicken.
To Cook
Wrap the foil up into bundle and steam chicken for 2 hrs.
Add salt to taste, then serve.
Lotus Leaf Wrapped Sticky Rice (Hor Yip Fan)
To Prep
In a medium bowl, stir together the marinade ingredients and add the chicken pieces. Stir well and refrigerate. Soak the sticky rice for 2 hrs, drain and mix with 2 tbsp dark soy sauce and set aside.
To Cook
Over high heat, add 2 tbsp oil to your wok. When the wok is smoking slightly, add half the mushrooms and stir-fry until they’re browned, tender, and most of the moisture has evaporated.
Heat your wok over high heat again with a couple tablespoons oil. Fry until chicken is golden brown before mixing in the mushrooms, scallions and salt. Stir-fry for a couple minutes to let the flavors meld together.
Combine with the soaked rice. Now you’re ready to wrap them in the lotus leaves. Brush a small section on one end of each leaf lightly with oil. Put about ¾ cup of the mixture on the oiled area. Wrap each into a rectangle, tie with kitchen string, and steam for about 90 mins.
You can serve with a little chili oil or allow them to cool, place into freezer bags, and freeze for later! When you’re ready to eat them, just steam them right out of the freezer for about 30 mins.
Steamed Chicken with Black Fungus and Dried Lily Buds
To Prep
Make sure your chicken is dry then mix with the seasoning ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cover and allow the chicken to marinate for 20 minutes.
To Cook
Blanch the soaked lily buds and black fungus in boiling water for a couple of minutes.
Cut the soaked mushrooms and blanched black fungus into strips.
Add the lily buds, black fungus, mushrooms, and ginger to the marinated chicken and mix well.
Steam the chicken in a steamer until the chicken is cooked through (about 20 minutes). Make sure the water is boiling in the steamer before placing the chicken in.
Garnish with the chopped spring onions and serve hot with some white rice.
Prosperity Treasure Pot (Pun Choy)
For the Braised Pork
Blanch pork trotter in water and 3 slices of ginger for 5 mins. This will lessen the porky smell. Drain and rinse the pork. Set aside.
Rub salt and dark soy sauce on pork trotter.
In a wok, heat 2 tbsp oil and sear all sides of the pork trotter until browned and set aside.
In the same wok, pan-fry shiitake mushrooms and dried oysters for 1-2 mins and set aside.
Prepare a pressure cooker. Add pork trotter, shiitake mushrooms, dried oysters and all the remaining ingredients. Fill pressure cooker with water enough to immerse the pork. Seal the lid and cook on high for 30-40 mins and until sauce thickens slightly. Add in the black moss fungus and stir.
Taste test and adjust with more rock sugar or soy sauce if necessary.
For the Seafood Vegetables
In a small pot, fill half full with water and bring to boil. Add Shaoxing wine, spring onions and ginger slices. Keep boiling for another 5 mins.
Add prawns and scallops to the pot to poach for about 2-3 mins. Drain prawns and scallops and set aside.
In another pot, bring chicken stock, wombok and daikon to boil then simmer until daikon is tender. Remove wombok and daikon from the pot and set aside.
With the chicken stock still boiling, add abalone into the pot to cook for 1 min and set aside. Then, blanch broccoli until tender and set aside.
To assemble the Pun Choy
Prepare a large pot, about 28-30cm in diameter and 10-15 cm in depth.
Layer the base with wombok. Save some to place on top with the other ingredients.
Carefully arrange the rest of the ingredients around the pot. There are no set rules, but you’d want to display all the ingredients in their full glory.
Lastly, get your loved ones together and dig in!
Chicken Katsu Sushi Sandwich (Chicken Katsu Onigirazu)
To Prep the Chicken Katsu
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper on a baking tray.
Heat up frying pan on medium heat and combine the panko and toast until golden brown. Transfer panko into a shallow dish and allow to cool.
Butterfly and cut the chicken breast. Pound the chicken to equal thickness if necessary. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken.
In a shallow dish, add flour and in another dish, whisk together the egg and water.
Dredge each chicken piece in the flour to coat completely, pat off the excess flour. Then dip into the egg mixture and finally coat with the toasted panko.
Place the chicken pieces on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 25-30 mins.
To Prep the Onigirazu
Place a cling wrap on a chopping board and put a sheet of nori seaweed on top (shiny side facing down).
Evenly spread the steamed rice (thinly) to form into a square shape in the centre of nori sheet. Sprinkle a little bit of salt.
Place the shredded cabbage evenly on top of rice and then the chicken katsu on top.
Spread the mustard and tonkatsu sauce on the chicken katsu and flip the chicken so the sauce is on the cabbage.
Place another thin layer of steamed rice on top of the chicken katsu. Fold left and right corners of nori sheet towards the centre. Fold gently but tightly to wrap around the layers at the centre.
Then fold bottom and top corners towards the centre. Fold gently but tightly around the layers. Ensure the rice is tucked in nicely.
Wrap with cling wrap tightly and set aside for 3 mins.
Cut the onigirazu with a sharp and clean knife. Run your knife in cold water before cutting so that the cross-section will be clean.
Baked Mild Chicken Curry Puffs
To Cook
In a wok, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and stir-fry until aromatic.
Add the chicken cubes and stir-fry until half cooked. Then, add curry powder, turmeric, cumin, sugar, black pepper, curry leaves and salt. Stir to mix well and allow to cook for another few minutes.
In the meantime, make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the chicken stock with 1 tbsp of cornstarch. Keep stirring while you pour the mixture into the chicken. Leave to simmer for a few minutes until the chicken mixture thickens. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
Cut each sheet of puff pastry into 6-8cm squares.
Spoon about 2 tbsp of filling onto each square. Then fold pastry diagonally to form a triangle, and press the edges together with you fingers. To make sure the edges are sealed, press the edges with a fork. Transfer curry puffs to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat until all filling/pastry is used up.
Preheat oven to 200ºC.
Brush the curry puffs with egg wash, then bake for 15-20 mins, or until golden brown.
Set aside to cool before serving. Careful, the filling gets piping hot when fresh out of the oven.
Baked Flaky BBQ Chicken Buns (Siew Pau)
To Prep the Filling
In a frying pan or wok, combine all ingredients except fried onions and cook for about 15 mins over medium-high heat.
Then, add fried onions and cook a further 5 mins.
Preparing the dough:
For Dough 1
Using a mixer, combine all Dough 1 ingredients and knead at medium-high speed for about 4-5 mins. Set aside.
For Dough 2
Then, combine ingredients for Dough 2 in the mixing bowl, and knead at medium-high speed for 1-2 mins. The texture should be quite firm. Do not over knead.
To Make the Siew Pao
Preheat oven to 200°C.
Portion Dough 2 into 3cm balls, and Dough 1 into 6cm balls. Individually wrap Dough 2 balls in Dough 1, then use a rolling pin to roll into an oblong strip. Roll up the strip of dough, turn 90° and roll out again with a rolling pin. Repeat 2-3 times for a flakier texture to the pastry. Roll up into a cylinder, then turn on its side and flatten into a round shape with rolling pin.
Fill dough with 2 tsps filling, gather the edges to the center to wrap around the filling, and seal the edges.
Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 mins at 200°C, then remove and brush with egg yolk and milk mixture. Return to oven for another 10 mins. Remove and serve.
Thai Spicy Basil Stir Fried with Chicken (Gai Pad Kaprow)
To Cook
Heat oil over low heat. Add Valcom Basil Stir-Fry Paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
Add chicken and stir-fry over high heat until cooked. Stir in fish sauce, sugar and water.
Garnish with basil leaves, then remove from heat.